Composer creates an atmosphere for Shakespearean drama

Composing music for Shakespearean drama is no easy task, but Oscar winner Elliot Goldenthalhas become quite the adept. He provided the "Titus" soundtrack in 1999 for his girlfriend, Julie Taymor, and this year scored the director's latest Shakespearean adaptation, "The Tempest."

Visiting Los Angeles for the film's premiere while Taymor stayed in New York to work out the kinks in her "Spider-Man" musical, Goldenthal explained his fondness for the Bard. "Shakespeare is psychologically complex. His characters are not black and white. You get this series of mirrors and layers and contradictions as the characters reveal themselves."

Within that context, Goldenthal adds, "I try to create the right atmosphere and not interfere with the actors' performances."

For "Tempest," Goldenthal says he custom-tailored a distinct "sonority" for each character. "Ariel (Ben Whishaw), as the name suggests, required something airy, so I used the glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin. It's a machine with glass circles attached to a wheel, and you pedal it with your feet like a sewing machine."

By contrast, Goldenthal explains, "Calaban (Djimon Hounsou) is very earth-like. I went with skin drums and the sound of the didgeridoo. When you blow into this hollowed-out tree, it produces a weird, low sound."

Goldenthal insists that working on movies directed by his longtime companion is essentially the same as collaborating with any other person. "Making a movie with Julie feels no different than working with Neil Jordan, whom I've made five movies with. You're still looking at a blank page, and you still have to fill in the dots."

CEO Harvey Weinsteinsaid, "We are living with an outdated ratings system that gives torture porn, horror and ultraviolent films the same rating as films with so-called inappropriate language." The MPAA rejected the "King's Speech" appeal but agreed to change "Blue Valentine" to an R.

Promoting 'Summer Wars' for Oscar nod

Japan's "Summer Wars" may not boast the marketing budget of DreamWorks or the star power of Tom Hanks, but Eric Beckman, the film's American distributor, has reason to believe that the animated feature - about a teenage math prodigy - will earn a slot alongside high-profile efforts like "Toy Story 3" and "How to Train Your Dragon" when Academy Award nominations are announced in January.

After all, Beckman engineered the David-versus-Goliath campaign last year that resulted in an Oscar nomination for Ireland's "The Secret of Kells."

He says, "We got 'Kells' nominated by not following conventional wisdom.

"For us, buying big, flashy ads in the trade publications was less important than getting the word out virally to animators on the nominating committee. A lot of the people who were enthusiastic about 'Kells' are also fans of 'Summer Wars.' "